Does Anyone Really think that we can trust our governments to look after us into retirement?
Does anyone really think that people should take back the power to decide their destiny? This short series of Articles will focus on what happens when you suddenly find that you don't have a job and your Superannuation ain't what you thought it would be, and then, in the second installment, it will focus on the many and brilliant alternatives that are out there, without the effort of having to do physical hard labour, and how you can take responsibility for your future and never, again trust the government with your well-being. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From The Drum (ABC Australia 27/10/15 – the author wanted to remain anonymous) When you go looking for work at my age they don't tell you directly that you are too old, they imply it with questions: "Will you manage? Do you have the technical skills?" It can be shocking and humiliating. Financially cocooned and safe in his own retirement, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced to the Australian people, "you must work until you are 70 before you can retire". What Mr Abbott forgot to tell Australia was that to get a job you might have to move. Move away from your home, move away from your security, move away from your family and grandchildren, and move away from your social network. I am 63 years of age, a secondary school teacher, and not entitled to a pension. I don't have enough money to live on as I only have a very small superannuation, because I raised five children, which interfered with my earning capacity and super payments. With bills accumulating I desperately needed to go back to work. To my shock and horror, I couldn't find a job. Many passive rejections made me realise I was too old for employment in Newcastle. I have five degrees that I have completed over the past 30 years with the most recent in 2014, at Deakin University. I have two masters degrees. They don't tell you directly that you are too old, they imply it with questions. "Do you have the patience to teach challenging students?" Of course they mean the naughty students that both young and old teachers find difficult to teach. Or, "will you be able to manage, dear?" Or, "at your age do you have the technological skills to teach?" Old age is a presumption employers make when they see your CV listing your employment history. Employers don't have to see your birth date to make their blind and inaccurate judgments. Mission Australia told me that, in the month of June, Newcastle saw 5000 people out of work and seeking employment with only 500 jobs available. I decided I would do anything - work in a shop, type up accounts, take a secretarial role, work in a bistro, do cleaning - anything to have a job. So as a last resort I tried an employment agency. One employment agency in Newcastle told me to "dumb it down". I was horrified. I looked the young woman (who was in her late 20s) in the eye and I fervently said, "I fought long and hard in the 1960s for women to have a voice, to be able to access an education and to have equality in the work force and in society". She blinked, then said, "I am sorry, but you do not even have the skills to be a secretary, and we must take note of your age". I was shocked and humiliated. I have a typing speed of 65 words per minute, I can type reports; heck, they are no different to typing up a university assignment, and surely could not be harder than typing up a masters thesis. I am organised and stylish in my appearance. The underlying problem: I have grey hair and a few well-deserved wrinkles on my face and hands. I realised nobody wanted to employ me. I felt depressed and would cry at 2am in the morning, when all the woes of life visit you instead of sleep. Tears of shame - for being old, undervalued and unwanted - would roll down my face and soak my pillow. In a fighting moment, I grabbed life in both hands and made an application for a teaching contract in Queensland. I updated my skills listing with the department, informed them of my newest masters degree in the Arts and my willingness to work anywhere in Queensland. Within a week I had a response. I accepted a job in a high school in a mining and industry town in central Queensland. On the first day one person remarked, "you're the granny out in the playground, the outlier (a mathematic term for outside the norm)," and giggled. There were other comments as well, but I don't care. I am old and I am working. I am in the classroom teaching. Petty comments can roll over me and wash away my fear of being unable to pay my bills . Last week I received my first pay. It was an awesome feeling, and, when I walk across the playground, kids yell out to me, "hi miss!" I feel worthwhile. I love it. Not bad for an oldie! (Our take on that: don't let them have power over you, and there are other ways to preserve your all-important self respect). ------------------------------------------------- Laid Off at 60: What to Do Next Losing your job in your 60s can be painful, but these 7 tips will help you move forward May 7, 2012 – www.nextavenue.org - By Kate Ashford You’re in the prime of your life, just a handful of years from retirement. So what do you do if your employer gives you a pink slip and sends you on your way? It happened to Robert (his name has been changed for privacy), now 62, about a year and a half ago. “I thought, ‘I am not ready in any way to be without a job,’” he says. “I was too young to be retired, I wasn’t ready to be retired, and I had to start looking for something else. And it became apparent pretty quickly that another job wasn’t going to come along in a hurry.” The hunt for a new job at 60 can be daunting. After all, your age and experience may mean you'd come with a fairly expensive price tag, making you a less attractive candidate to some employers than applicants in their 20s or 30s. Many employers don't leap to hire people in their 60s. What to do? Financial advisers and career pros offer these seven pointers: Gauge your financial situation. Before you dive into the want ads, “assess where you are financially,” says Sheryl Garrett, founder of Garrett Planning Network. “How long can you go without a paycheck before you’re broke? And what kind of income do you need in that next position?” You may find that you no longer need to earn what you did at your last job. Do some serious soul searching. Losing your job could be just the impetus you need to think hard about the type of work you want to do at this stage of your life. You may decide that you don’t want to work in your previous field any longer or that you don’t even want to work for someone else. “When I asked a client who was a hospital administrator, ‘What would you ideally be doing?’ he told me he wanted to have a bait and tackle store,” Garrett says. “It’s not out of the question to consider a position in a whole new field that would give you personal satisfaction.” Consider setting up shop. [Why not an online one?] At your age, with your experience and expertise, you might be in the perfect position to hang out a shingle or act as a consultant in your field. If so, start by creating a business plan. Then look for experts who can act as a sounding board. You might also find a community college class that can teach you how to start your own business. “A lot of adult education classes are specifically geared toward this,” says Eileen Freiburger, a financial planner in Manhattan Beach, Calif. When you go out on your own, it helps if you are covered by your spouse's health insurance plan, at least until Medicare kicks in at 65. But there are other ways to score benefits. For instance, you could take a part-time job that provides health insurance while you’re building a business on the side. Says Garrett: “A couple of friends of mine went to work part-time for Starbucks.” (Employees of Starbucks get health coverage if they work at least 240 hours per quarter.) If you look for another job, plan on a smaller paycheck - [well, that's depressing] After layoffs, men and women 62 and older who return to work collect paychecks that are 36 percent less than their previous salaries, on average, according to the Urban Institute. For those 50 to 61, the average pay cut is 20 percent. That’s not so surprising when you consider that an employee who has been in the workforce for decades may be at the top of his or her field. So replicating that pay isn’t easy. If you hold out for exactly the salary you just lost, you may never find it. Think carefully before turning down a great job that pays less, especially if your cash reserves are running low. But if you really need that income, when you apply for a job, “it’s worth a heart-to-heart with the hiring manager,” Freiburger says. “Ask, ‘If I take this salary, could I expect a bonus? Is there anything I could do — such as accreditation or continuing education — to get up to the next pay tier?’” You may need to take a full-time job regardless of salary just for the health benefits. “At this age and stage in life, health insurance may be as important as the paycheck,” Garrett says. When interviewing, commit to the company. One of the disadvantages of being an older worker in a job interview is that you can’t plausibly promise the employer that you’ll be on board for the next 20 years. But this doesn’t mean you need to share your plan to retire in five years or so if that's what you're planning, experts say. “During the interview, say, ‘I really want to be a part of this company,’” Freiburger says. After all, who knows? You may not be ready or able to retire as soon as you expect. Rethink your retirement age. Maybe you’ve been set on retiring at age 65. Unfortunately, if you just joined the unemployment line, this goal may no longer be realistic. “The idea of being 60 and almost ready to retire, it’s an illusion,” Garrett says. More than a third of workers expect to work past 70 or never retire, according to a survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. This doesn’t mean putting the proverbial pedal to the metal through your mid-70s, however. You might look for a full-time job that requires fewer hours — 40 per week, say, instead of the 60 you put in before you were laid off. Or you might take a full-time job and gradually scale back hours, through a phased retirement. OR YOU MIGHT JUST DECIDE TO LISTEN TO US AND START YOUR OWN ONLINE BUSINESS! BELIEVE IT NOT, FOLKS, YOU CAN DO IT FOR VERY LITTLE, IF YOU ARE PREPARED TO SUBSTITUTE HOURS FOR DOLLARS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everydayonomics: The despair of being over 60 and jobless One of the most confronting interviews I have done this year was with Glenda Ellwood-White, a 60-year-old who has been out of work for more than five years. She lives with her 23-year-old son in a granny flat in Sydney's inner west. Her income is so low she often cannot afford meals and when she does eat, the menu is monotonous. "I often think my stomach will kill me if I have any more noodles," so I often just have a piece of toast and a cup of tea," Ellwood-White told me. She likens life on the Newstart benefit to being stuck "on a human hamster wheel". We do not hear that much about the struggles of older unemployed people such as Ellwood-White, but it turns out they are likely to remain unemployed much longer than younger people. Analysis by Marcia Keegan, an economist with consultancy SGS Economics and Planning, shows that a quarter of those aged 45 to 64 remained unemployed for more than a year compared with only 15 per cent of people aged under 44. "If you become unemployed at an older age, your chances of finding a job are a lot lower than someone who becomes unemployed at a younger age," she said. The problem is most acute for those aged over 60 - two-thirds of Newstart recipients in that age group have been out of work for more than 12 months. So why are older workers so much more likely to be unemployed long term? Prejudice is a major factor. The Australian Human Rights Commission says discrimination can be found among the job applicants as young as their mid-40s. A recent job search experience survey found almost one in five people aged 45 to 64 felt their age was the main difficulty they faced in finding work. Ellwood-White claims her long search for a job proves age-based prejudice is "rife". Another explanation is that employers fear a short period of service from older workers. "If an employer interviews someone in their late 50s or early 60s, they might think the person is going to retire in a few years or take their superannuation tax-free," Dr Keegan said. "They think they might be able to keep a younger worker for longer, but this is very unfair, because workers in their late 50s or early 60s often want to work for another 10 years or more." But older workers can sometimes be demanding. When Keegan explored what wages unemployed people wanted, she found older people, especially men, tended to have higher expectations than younger workers. This might encourage employers to go for younger workers, especially if they have been out of work for a long period. Disability is another factor. More than 30 per cent of workers aged 60 to 64 have some sort of disability that limits job options. In contrast, the rate of disability among those aged 15 to 24 is only about 8 per cent. The good news is that the proportion of older workers with a disability is falling – among 60 to 64-year-olds, the rate dropped from close to 40 per cent in 2003 to about 33 per cent in 2012. This year's federal budget introduced a new policy to reduce mature-age unemployment called Restart. Employers will receive $10,000 over two years when they employ a person aged over 50 on income support for at least six months. Even so, older workers are a significant part of a growing longer-term unemployment problem in Australia. This year, the rate of long-term unemployment has climbed to 1.2 per cent of the labour force – well above the decade-long average of 0.92 per cent. The Fairfax-Lateral Economics Wellbeing Index – which puts a dollar figure on national welfare – shows the well-being cost of long-term unemployment has surged in the past year and is now a $2 billion-a-year drag on the nation's collective well-being. Much of the pain is being felt by those aged in their 50s, 60s and 70s. ___________________________________________________________________________ 12 Things I Learned From Getting Laid Off In My 60s 09/10/2012 10:05 PM ANN BRENOFF - SENIOR WRITER/COLUMNIST, THE HUFFINGTON POST I've been a journalist my entire working life. I've been a writer, an editor, and a nationally syndicated columnist for a major print daily. I can even claim a share of a Pulitizer prize for my work covering the Northridge, California earthquake. And I was completely stunned when I fell victim to the recession and was laid off in March 2008. But as they say, what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger. I survived; actually I did more than survive, I thrived. Here's what losing my job at age 59.5 years old taught me: GRIEVING IS FOR WIDOWS I devoted my final commute home -- an hour stuck in traffic on Los Angeles' 10 Freeway -- to sobbing uncontrollably. I rolled the windows up tight and blasted Springsteen so loud the car vibrated. I banged the steering wheel so hard that my fists hurt. And then I pulled into my driveway, dried my tears, and faced my family. Grieving time was over; from that moment on, I never looked back. I accepted that what I lost was just a job, not a loved one. DON'T WASTE TIME BLAMING ANYONE, INCLUDING YOURSELF I didn't spend a minute wondering why I got the tap on the shoulder instead of the next guy. Didn't we learn on the kindergarten playground that life wasn't always fair? Finger-pointing, repeating the gory details of the injustice that befell you to anyone you can get to listen -- it's just such an energy-zapper. Save your emotional strength for rebuilding your career CONFIDENCE BREEDS CONFIDENCE If you don't believe you're fabulous, why should anyone else? Take a lesson from Facebook postings here: Life is wonderful, you are amazing, things couldn't be better. And believe it; if nothing else, you'll sleep better if you do. ANGER ISN'T ATTRACTIVE Put on a happy face and mean it. Nobody wants to hire a sad sack or someone angry at their old boss, their company, changes in their industry or the economy. Me? I quietly cancelled my subscription to the newspaper that canned me and let it go at that. Nobody wears anger well. YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL; BEHAVE LIKE ONE IF YOU WANT PEOPLE TO TREAT YOU LIKE ONE [WE ABSOLUTELY ECHO THIS SENTIMENT!] As a writer, I was frequently asked to write for free. I insisted on compensation -- although sometimes that compensation came in peculiar shapes. I would barter services -- I would do some marketing work and get my son tutored, my dog groomed, my closets organized. During the two years I freelanced, I chose to write an unpaid blog for The Huffington Post because of the platform and exposure it provided. Each time I posted, it led to paid writing assignments. Be strategic about your work decisions. People who work for free are volunteers and volunteers belong in the nonprofit world. GIVING TO OTHERS IS A GOOD THING I think I knew this my whole working life, but answered the need to give with my checkbook instead of my heart. Being unemployed taught me that there were ways to help others that actually felt better. I formed a support group for entrepreneurial women running their own businesses. I brought in advisors, speakers, and we all helped one another. Helping people helped me stay whole. I might not have been able to write big checks to charity, but I could certainly take a break from my own struggles to listen to someone else's. [OUR TAKE ON THIS - DON'T GET MAD, DON'T GET EVEN - GET CREATIVE!] YOU AREN'T ALONE There are dark moments to being unemployed. You worry about whether you'll have enough money to pay your bills and you constantly wonder when it will all end. Since unemployment is by definition a state of aloneness -- you don't go to an office of unemployed people every day -- it's easy to feel like you are the only one experiencing the misery. My suggestion: Go to your nearest Starbucks. Plenty of unemployed people have adopted Starbucks as their office away from home. They have free WiFi and you can answer job ads, respond to emails and write your cover letters from there just as easily as you can your garage. I found that Starbucks also had fewer spiders than my basement and the occasional unemployed screenwriter with great stories to tell. [OUR TAKE - DO WHATEVER IT TAKES AND IF YOU ARE NOT A CREATIVE PERSON, CALL US AND WE WILL MENTOR YOU - FREE!] YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO REPLICATE WHAT YOU LOST The sooner you accept that reality, the better off you'll be. There are entire industries that have essentially been eliminated. [Once upon a time before motor cars, there was a whole buggy whip industry - who remembers them?] The most frustrated among the unemployed are those who continue to look for jobs that don't exist anymore. I get that they loved what they were doing and want to find a job doing it again. But it's a new marketplace out there and in many cases, they need to find something else to do. [I read, just yesterday, that "Deep Learning" is now such that computers can learn faster than humans and they will replace whole industries in the next 5 years - apparently one of the first to go could be the call centre industry, where robots will take over and be far more efficient..go figure!] WILLIE SUTTON WAS RIGHT When asked why he robbed banks, Slick Willie said, "Because that's where the money is." If Sutton was interested in finding work in today's economy, he'd explore some re-careering options -- because he'd go where the jobs are. [It's a safe bet he would go for an online networking type of business] Your skills may be terrific but if they can't get you a paycheck, you need to work on getting some new skills. Learning how to be flexible -- which means learning how to change -- is a tough lesson for a lot of us. Community colleges have really stepped up to the challenge of re-careering people. Their fees are low and in many cases, online classes are offered. Look for programs with in-field internships because internships are today's foot in the hiring door. [NOTE FROM GATESY - GO WHERE THE TRENDS ARE - MLM, AFFILIATE, SURVEYS, DROPSHIPPING, EBAY, VOICEOVER WORK, WRITING, COPYWRITING AND THERE ARE A HUNDRED MORE GREAT IDEAS THAT ARE YET TO BE EXPLORED..] LESS IS MORE Trite, I know, but true nevertheless. One of the first things people do when they are laid off from their jobs is try to reduce their spending. We didn't hide our situation from our children. They understood that the family had suffered a financial tsunami and we could be in for a rough ride. We battened down the money hatches: We became coupon-clippers and got pretty creative when it came to taking vacations (house swapping, mooching off friends and relatives, using frequent flyer miles.) Funny part, but I don't recall a single instance where my kids whined or were upset about not getting something. They understood the difference between their needs and their wants and as long as we were a family, we were solid. [note from Gatesy - kids are totally resilient, so don't hide anything from them - if you are going to an online business, involve them as they will surprise you with what they can teach you] SAVING TRUMPS SPENDING Saving never felt as good to me as spending -- until I lost my job. The frugal habits I formed during my two years as a freelancer have stayed with me. While we do now eat out on occasion, I am mindful of the fact that living paycheck-to-paycheck without setting aside something for the rainy day is just plain stupid. I came to the savings party a little late, but won't use that as an excuse for not doing it now. [....and it is a good attitude to have when you are starting your online business, so that you can feed your business..] DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN Looking for a job is a process of continuously dashed hopes and a steady stream of rejections -- until it isn't and then you get a job. The journey to a job is a regular roller coaster, but without much in the way of a thrill. It takes a concerted effort to keep your spirits up. But you have to. Build in some positives to the program. Spend time with people who affirm your value. [NOTE FROM GATESY - DON'T WAIT TO BE DEPRESSED, IT'S NOT COMPULSORY - JOIN AN MLM, OR A MEETUP GROUP OR ANYTHING, BUT GET YOURSELF AROUND POSITIVE PEOPLE, ACTIVELY SEEK OUT IDEAS, ESPECIALLY ONES FROM "LEFT FIELD" - YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOUR INSPIRATION CAN COME FROM] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUR TAKE ON ALL OF THIS..FROM A WORK AT HOME PERSPECTIVE First, to all the young people reading this, don't think it doesn't apply to you. It very well could, so don't wait for the drama, decide how you want your future to be, don't rely on the government to help, take the intitiative and do what is right for you, your family and your future. Older folks, I hope that this resonates, because if it does, look at a Work from Home Solution and put yourself in a situation where you never look back. Stay with us on this site, we have put out some great ideas already and will continue to do so. Remember, the internet is like this incredible ocean full of tiny fish that all represent money, swimming in the stream, and that means opportunity and all you have to do is work out how you are going to net your share of them. Find a need then find a way to satisfy that need, solve a problem, then stick your net in the water and grab those fish that swim into it.. They will swim into your "Sales Funnel" and that is what we will focus on in coming weeks.
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From my e-book "The Fifteen Secrets to Success in Multi- Level Marketing" (available here) or online at: What are the ingredients for a successful MLM career? There are MANY. We can’t give you an absolute blueprint. But we can give you a QUICKSTART plan that will put you on the right path as quickly as possible. A quick start equals momentum and that usually equals Success! This is more of a “super checklist” than a blueprint, but you will find that you still need to tick all these boxes to be on the right track (but not straight away). Is your opportunity the right one? First, make sure that you are getting into a great opportunity. Do some research into what makes a good MLM company, but don't spend too long on it. A 20 minute Google search should tell you the following:
What is your WHY? Only you can know that. People go to a J-O-B every day because they need to make a living. They need to put food on the table, clothes on their backs and their families’ backs, to pay the mortgage or the rent or the school fees, and a hundred and one other things. Your WHY is you reason to break out of the mould, to leave the pack and to achieve whatever it is that you are looking for. It is the thing that gives you the drive and energy to get going every day and stick with it when the going gets tough. It may be:
….I could go on and on, but only you know, in your own heart what it is that will drive you to make it happen. What motivates you to do this? If it is a NEED make sure that is a need to be a better you, rather than just a basic survival need. Do you have a need to do better? To step outside your comfort zone? To make sacrifices? I have heard it said that the difference between entrepreneurs and ordinary people is that entrepreneurs will spend time doing things that most people won’t so that they can end up living like most people can’t! (Not my quote but I wish it was!). The other one that I like is that: ..”an entrepreneur is someone who will work 100 hours a week for himself, so that he doesn’t have to work 40 hours for someone else..” How true? They would see that as a need, but for different reasons - not just a need to get by. Why do you have a “why”? Is it so that you can make a better living? Or live a better life? Or sack the boss? Or just be the boss? Is it so that you can set your family up? Whatever the reason, be sure it is as strong as possible, because it is your “rock” when things occasionally get tough .and they will, believe me! It has to be your "power pack" that you call on to energise you. Now that you have your reason to be different, you need to be sure in your heart and mind that you have chosen the opportunity that you want to power ahead with. Is the opportunity relevant to your why? Is the cost of starting something that you can live with? How soon can you recoup your initial investment? Most good MLM companies, these days will have some sort of quick start incentive designed to get you your initial investment back in the first month or two. Understand that and, if your MLM company doesn’t do it, ask why. At the end of the day, it really does come down to the money. If it’s just about spiritual fulfilment, you can get that from a book, or a Yoga class, or join a monastery or an Ashram. Be in no doubt, MLM is about improving your life by giving you MONEY, so that you can afford those dreams and make them real. Cost Are you prepared to chase the dream for the kind of money you are out laying? Some MLM’s are big ticket. Most are not. If it is big ticket make sure it is something that will make YOU wealthy and not just the promoters of the business. Whatever the cost, be prepared to spend it, and make sure you budget for it and put it aside - you are now in a business and need to treat it like one - talk to your upline about that. Duplication The most important characteristic of any network marketing scheme is that it MUST BE DUPLICATABLE. Your down line will follow what you do, so be sure you are prepared to do likewise and follow your upline, without any qualms. It is a funny thing, but your group will emulate what you do. It is an unbreakable concept. Don’t doubt it and don’t resist it. It just is.. You will never hear otherwise in any MLM organisation, so don’t fight it. Goals Be very clear on these, but also be flexible, as your goals can constantly be evolving and developing.
If yes, how many things on the list have you ticked off, or is it just a wish list? At the end of the day, or at the end of our lives, it’s important to be able to look back and ensure that your life has been lived for the right reasons and that you have stopped along the way to reward yourself for all the right things you did or still have to do, or have discarded for one good reason or another. Obstacles If your WHY is strong, are there any obstacles in your way?
The Checklist You may not know the answers to all these things straight away, but you will soon need to, if you want to succeed in MLM.
Do your homework as you go along
Are you ready to "plant your flag"? Are you ready to launch? Will it be “full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes?” Or "gee, I don’t know, better go cautiously"? The answer to all of them should be ABSOLUTELY YES! ...but everyone understands that some of these require a change in your approach, and in MLM you always have the luxury of time, so don't panic - just trust your upline. Guess What! Here is the good news – you can succeed in MLM even if you haven’t answered all of those questions. The only thing that you need to do is show willingness to follow the system, and do whatever your upline leaders suggest. They have been there and I promise you, they are not making it up. Notice that I said upline “leaders”. That is because your own sponsor may be as new and uninitiated as you, but I can guarantee there is someone in the immediate upline who understands it and is willing to work for you and with you, as long as you make the commitment to listen and learn and do what they teach. Why Does Everyone Talk About A Fast Start? Well, you can make a success of MLM from a slow start; maybe even a huge success, but those guys are often the exception to the rule, the sort of people who would succeed, no matter what - you may even be one of them! While there are no stereotypes, and anyone can do it, you will have the best chance if you run hard from the get go, tick all the boxes, above and create momentum. Growth in your downline will come from momentum created by enthusiasm, which, in turn, is created by fostering team spirit, so that the new people quickly see that they just need to “rinse and repeat” and follow the leader. Think of it like a jet airliner taking off - revs up to full power, releases the brakes, full power, full out down the runway, hits the point of no return and lifts off into the air - once it has done all the hard yards of getting to cruising altitude on full thrust, they level off, back off the power and cruise - it's a great analogy, and you should use it, when talking to others. Go for it! Say Geronimo! Jump in and comment, and let's have your thoughts Next Week: The Fear of Failure -v- The Fear of Success -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BONUS - FREE OFFER - as always, our free offer to enable you to put some cash in your Paypal account, while you kick your business off - don't forget, in MLM maybe 20% of your prospects will join you in your business, but you can still sell things to the 80% who say NO... This is a great way to operate a business if you like selling physical (and not just digital) products, but don't want the hassle of setting up your own infrastructure. It is a way to leverage off a lot of good, enthusiastic people and plug into a system that not only has first class products, but a fantastic back-end to do the heavy lifting, and a distributor group who all want your success so that they can guarantee theirs. A pretty good deal, BUT.... Come prepared to work. If you are a newbie, or someone who is evaluating an MLM business, this series of articles, from my e-book "Fifteen Secrets to Success in Multi-Level Marketing" will help you see the immense value in a MLM business, and help you to see how much this could change your life. This is the opportunity for you to take charge of your life and your destiny – maybe for the first time – and the chance to be your own boss, be in charge of your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly routine, make as much money as you want to, and treat your family to the life that you and they deserve. Before we get too far into it, we need to make the usual boring disclaimer that no MLM company will tell you that you can make any particular level of income, at all. You can make anything from millions to zero and anywhere in between. It depends on lots of things, that we will go into in more detail in these articles. But, the good news is that if you want to make the big bucks, it is entirely possible and it is only a decision or two between now and then. If you have never run a business before, don’t worry. We will lay out some exciting prospects for you. If you have run your own business, you will quickly see that this is an opportunity to gain the freedom to be your own boss, without huge overheads, staff, taxes and all the other things that go with running conventional businesses. You will see that this will give you the opportunity to put your family first, to sit on the “beaches of the world” and to truly have control of your own life and your own destiny. Does this sound too good to be true? Maybe, but bear with us and it will all make perfect sense. We assume that you have seen an MLM opportunity and are seriously considering it, or that you have jumped in, and may now be wondering what you have got yourself into, or you have jumped in and are excited in the first weeks and months of your new business. Hang in there with us and we will embark on a great journey! No Bricks and Mortar Armed with all the business building tools that your MLM Company makes available, you can be sitting on a beach, or in a café, or an airplane, or your home office, with just your tablet, laptop and maybe just a smartphone app! And be able to run your worldwide business. Does that get your attention? You will be linked to your MLM company, via your online back office and hopefully, your back office will track you and your group, provide up to date news, information about products, services, events, provide an impressive array of videos, apps and online tools and communication tools to help you manage every aspect of your business, and even have mobile phone apps! Pretty good value, I'd say - and tax deductible, to boot. If your business doesn’t have all of those features, maybe you need to look around for another one, and preferably one that sells products and services that you use and pay for each and every month of your life. If you can’t think of one, you need to ask me! Isn't Network Marketing an Unconventional or Inefficient way to run a business? I’m glad you asked! And in order to answer that, I would say that the traditional business structure is more likely to be the most inefficient business model known to man. You have people on fixed wages and salaries, who might be the laziest, time serving employees ever, and they could be hiding in the back room, shuffling paper and keeping their heads down, waiting for 5 o'clock, waiting for Friday, waiting for a promotion, waiting for Christmas, waiting to retire!! Any old excuse. You have teams and committees who "spend the hours taking the minutes". You have meaningless projects and research studies, you have employees who take too many sick days, you have employees who steal from their boss, employees who over claim on their allowances, or their work in progress, or their hourly rates, abuse their use of the company car, spend too much time on smoking breaks or in the coffee shop, spend way too much of their day on Facebook or Twitter, or fake their sales figures. You have costly consultants who spend a fair bit of their time while contracted to you, chasing their next contract. You outsource your legal and accounting needs, you have expensive auditors. All of that's a fair bit of overhead to carry! In a good MLM company it's a pretty simple equation. All we have to do is find customers and distributors and refer all the queries to the company which usually has a fantastic staff waiting to help. No money changes hands between distributors, clients order their products online, and you get the credit, distributors sign on and pay online and you get them straight into your network, and the whole thing is managed at company headquarters and all of that information and those reports are available to you, instantly, online. One giant series of finders fees! No Downsizing in MLM! Why is it that every few years, the government of the day downsizes the public service, or companies retrench their staff? Because, over time, large organisations and bureaucracies get a little bit bloated and need to be culled back. What does that do for job satisfaction, or job security? Smaller companies fall victim to downward market trends and difficult cost environments and downsize, often to their detriment and it can become a slippery slope. Anyone in our country who has been keeping up with the latest news, would see just how many industries are closing down, or retrenching staff. If I were a worker in this country, in manufacturing, I would be very nervous right now. No Slacking Off on the Boss’s Time! How do you feel when you ring a company or a government department to talk to someone only to be told, they are at a conference, or on lunch, at a Golf Day, or on a rostered day off? Or how do you feel when you ring a company and spend the first ten minutes pressing buttons on your keypad before you can talk to a human being? In your own business you are available and open for business every waking hour and, especially on weekends. In your own business, someone has a need for your product or service, somewhere in the world, while you are sleeping. You could be getting paid while you sleep completely legally. You are sleeping on the boss' time, because you ARE the boss! Your customers can be placing orders while you are having an overseas holiday, and the residuals can be arriving in your bank account without fail, no matter where you are and what you are doing. Nobody Gets Fired! In MLM, if someone in your downline organisation doesn't want to work or achieve, they will earn accordingly (no results, no commissions and no hard feelings), and their upline leaders don't need to waste their time trying to motivate them - you just move on to help the ones that want your help - pretty fair deal, I think! You let the underachievers hang around as long as they want to, since they are not an overhead - they will either drop out, voluntarily or become active in their own good time… and they are usually nice people to have around, anyway. That's always a bonus. So, to answer this question, network marketing, properly done, is probably the most efficient business model around - It is a model that is around 100 years old, and which really took off in the '90's once the internet and social media marketing started to take hold, when the world suddenly got smaller, and lots of young entrepreneurs, got busy and creative!. It is the way of the future, is a very viable alternative to traditional business structures and it is here to stay! The Freedom to Choose (or How to Fire your Boss) More and more people want the freedom to choose where they work from, and when they work, and how they work. More and more people want to be their own boss and not a servant of a nanny state. More and more people are sick of renting themselves out to their boss and spending nearly half their lives commuting and punching the clock. In these uncertain times, when you need so much more put away to retire on, when housing prices are through the roof, when young people can't buy their first homes, your grown up kids don’t want to leave home and older people can't afford to retire, when social welfare is more and more costly, it just makes plain good sense to help ourselves, even if the business is only ever a part time Plan B. So - please feel free to add any comments below and give us your experiences with MLM so far. ...Next Week ....What are the ingredients for a successful MLM career? But before we go, and as always, we would like to offer you a great opportunity to put a little money in your Paypal account, by giving away these 2 great FREE e-books How? ....click below More than ever, the Internet is a revolutionary media and a powerful medium for earning money. It opens up so many opportunities as every day passes. Paid survey is one of the fastest growing income streams on the web, where you can definitely earn good amounts of money.
Different Websites offers various kinds of paid surveys. There are many survey companies available on the Internet where you can just enrol and start earning. It is basically about market research companies who need to gather various statistical data about different products or services from large groups of people. This is usually the basis for product and customer experience improvement. The survey company will compensate you for your feedback on their survey. What most web site owners don't want to tell you is you can spend weeks finding, researching, weeding out the scams and still be trying to figure out where and how to even begin properly. Or worse, find the good ones and then after long hours of trying, find that they only pay pennies. There are companies out there paying REAL money for internet surveys. A half day of good, hard, free research will definitely pay dividends. You need to give yourself the best chance for success. Surely weeks of your time are worth $50.00 or less, not to mention the frustration of spending all this time and feeling helpless, defeated, scammed and money less. There is plenty demand out there for this market place. You only need to look at the searches done on a daily basis for keywords. many people are looking and most get tired, frustrated and eventually quit. Many people have lost money on one program or the other and are afraid to throw good money after bad. Here is the thing, behind every successful person is a lot of failures. You can't go into an online endeavour uninformed. Can you make it without a Survey Directory? Yes with some help, much time, luck and a lot of patience. Why not spend a few dollars on a Paid Survey Directory Company that has done a lot of the work for you. Here are just a few things they offer. * Training * Customer Support so you have someone to help you * A large Database of Survey Companies * Database, whereby they have removed known Scam or non paying Companies * Step-by-Step instructions on how to be successful If you are online and reading this article you more than likely have most or all of the requirements necessary to work from home taking surveys. Now you will need to evaluate the Online Paid Survey Directory Companies and pick the best ones for you. After research and feedback from my customers you should be able to narrow down the list from hundreds to just six. Remember, in every internet niche there are the gurus and the also-rans. You need to do your research, join Facebook groups, and forums on surveys. These days there are forums on every topic, so a couple that you might like to look at would be: Wahm.com WhyDoWork.com Homeworking.com InternetBasedMoms.com ABestWeb WarriorForum.com AssociatePrograms.com WickedFire.com Im4newbies To get started go to the Survey Website and fill out the enrolment form online. Once a member, It is up to you to choose to participate or to ignore to join in survey. The survey company will also indicate how much you will earn and how much time it may take to finish the survey online. You do not have to pay for survey but you will be paid. Before you jump into such survey websites, here is a red alert for you. Only join reliable companies, and be aware some of the key points before joining such Paid Survey Websites
So, good luck, have fun with it and here’s to your success. Let us know of any experiences or other useful feedback, by leaving a comment, below Next Week: MLM (Multi Level Marketing) In advance, check out my e-Book "15 Secrets to Success in MLM" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- …but before we sign off, how would you like a nice little income stream that you can start earning straight away – not enough to make you an overnight success, but plenty to get your business started and put some useful sums of money into your Paypay or Payza account, and certainly enough to enable you to start investing in your business and maybe buying some paid traffic Curated Content, based on material originally written by Kevan Lee, from Buffer and with lots of new content added by me and my earlier posts on the subject Where do email subscribers fall on your list of priorities? While social media might be the hot place to push your marketing efforts, there are many who choose to rely instead on building a valuable email list. And they are correct. Most of the experts or "gurus" will tell you that around ninety percent of their income comes from it. If you build it up and do it properly, developing a strong following your list will be your biggest asset. Email is the most important channel for you to cultivate. Social Media is the way to get people there to see your brilliant content. Think of it like a fantastic store, brimming with beautiful, bright and shiny objects, that people will want to buy as soon as they see them, but the trouble is that the shop is in a remote and lonely backstreet, off the beaten track and nobody can find it. So you get some guys to stand on the street corners with sandwich boards, or you put up signs, or you take out advertising in glossy magazines, and then the people come. You see the analogies? The website is the shop with all the attractive products, the social media posts are your sandwich boards, or signposts or TV ads to get the people to do one thing - walk into your shop!, because they see you as interesting and worth checking out! Once they arrive you take their name and find ways to invite them back - you might walk up to them and take their business card, or put their name on a list, or have them fill out a form or a survey - that is the equivalent of your list. It's great to have all those new customers walking in off the street, but your list is your means of staying in touch. Having done all the hard work of getting them there, you need to keep them interested and coming back. Repeat business is the real business. With an BIG email list of people who like you and your content (that comes from your highly interesting and informative blog), you can run multiple parallel income streams, because they like YOU and that means that they will probably like most of whatever you have on offer. How big is big? That may vary according to the quality of your list, and the people on it. It may vary with the quality and types of product you are selling. Big ticket, small ticket, physical goods, online, digital, e-books, drop-shipping, affiliate marketing. Probably the best rule of thumb is "get it as big as you can" How Big is Too Big? Good luck trying to find that out. The big guns of internet marketing have hundreds of thousands on their lists and that is because they know the meaning of the phrase: .."..the money is in the list .." How do the experts do it? If your take a close look at the heavyweights of email (plus several other amazing sites) to see what methods they use to gain new subscribers, here is what you will learn. The simple formula for growing a massive email list In analysing the websites and techniques of some of these awesome email list builders, a certain formula starts to emerge. If we could boil down the process of building a massive email list to just the most basic parts, it would probably look like this: Amazing blog content + crystal clear calls-to-action = massive email list Can it really be that simple? The experts (Kevan Lee, Michael Stelzner and many others) think so. Basically, everything begins with content. People will find your site because of your amazing content. They will keep coming back for amazing content. Your amazing content will be the foundation of what you email to them, which will be the reason they stay subscribed (or not.) It all starts with amazing content. I write a lot about great content and engagement and to re-cap here are a few of my most favourite articles:
Once you have the amazing content, the next step is to ask for emails. People who adore your content will be primed to receive that content as often as you can create it, delivered straight to their inbox. It’s up to you to make sure they find your call-to-action (or, in this case, a call-to-subscribe). Make it obvious. Make it crystal clear. With this in mind … 6 key strategies on how to grow your subscription list Examining these top blogs (plus some bonus research, too) shows that there are many different ways to go about growing your list and creating those crystal clear calls-to-action that drive subscribers. Here are a few of the best ideas. 1. Treat your blog home page like an email capture form For those who focus on building and growing an email subscriber list, their home pages reflect how vital email is to their content strategy. Big, bold signup forms dominate the home pages of many email-savvy blogs. 2. Include a can’t-miss call-to-action: Popups, slideups, menus, and popovers It’s rare to read an article on growing an email list without coming across a recommendation for installing a popup. The reason: It’s sound advice, backed by good numbers. Popups are a can’t-miss call-to-action. Literally. It doesn’t get more can’t-miss than a window appearing over the content you’re trying to read. Of course, this method of email capture can be hotly debated for just this reason. As Hunter Boyle of Aweber puts it: "...Every time I present, I ask who hates popovers, and 2/3 of the crowd nods and groans. The other 1/3? They’re usually okay with popovers because they’re getting good results from them! ... Fortunately, there are options for popups, as the strategy covers a wide variety of different implementations. I’m throwing all these under the umbrella of “popup.” Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed any favorites you’ve used or seen.
3. Multiple CTAs: Give readers infinity+1 opportunities to subscribe Seems like those who build lists best make email an unmistakeable part of their blog design and calls-to-action. You cannot escape the calls to signup. There might be a signup in a popover, a signup at the top of a blog post, another one at the bottom. Basically, the design assumes that people will view the site differently and that in order to maximize the chances that a potential subscriber sees a signup form you’d best put sign up forms everywhere. Think you’re going overboard with the email signup requests? Listen to your audience, who will likely let you know when you’ve crossed the line. You can also adhere to the old colloquialism, “You’ll know it when you see it.” Go with your gut. Here are some top places to try placing an email signup form (or two or three) on your blog:
Your potential subscribers—even if they differ across demographics and industries and target audience—are still human. They LOVE free stuff and particularly free stuff that makes them money! Attaching something valuable to your email signup form is a surefire way to pique interest. Basically, give something away for free, for the price of an email address (which we all know is worth way more than free to the site that gets it). Here are a few suggestions.
HubSpot is one of the industry leaders in giveaways (so it’s probably no surprise they’re industry leaders, period). In an article about email list growth, Ginny Soskey shared HubSpot’s two-part view of giving something of value to potential subscribers: "...We suggest starting with two types of free offers. One top-of-the-funnel, educational piece of content like an ebook, and one middle-of-the-funnel offer to let someone speak with your sales team to get a demo or a quote or a free consultation or whatever works for your specific business. By having these two types of offers on your website, you can capture potential leads and convert customers that are in different stages of the buying process...." 5. Keep the subscription link handy Place a lead capture form on every page. But also place it everywhere else that you can. Depending on your email software, there is likely a landing page devoted to acquiring email signups. You can get the link and share it in a huge number of different places like email signatures, social media messages, and guest blog bios. Once you have the link, keep it handy. You never know when you might have a chance to use it. Ryan Hoover has a neat trick for gaining more email signups - he replies to each and every mention on Twitter, often starting a conversation with folks who have shared his content. As part of this conversation, he’ll drop in an offer to sign up for his email list, sending over the direct link to do so. Just as in normal physical selling you CLOSE the sale when you ASK FOR the sale. Gaining optins should be no different. Ask for them. The results: 60 to 80 percent of people convert. 6. Test your messages: Start with social proof Would you be more apt to join an email list if you knew 8,000 other people were already signed up? The concept of social proof says yes, which is why you see many sites advertise the size of their email list on their signup form. Case studies: How the best sites gain signups Now that you’ve seen the many different ways to grow an email list, I’d love to show you how some of the top sites implement these ideas. Here is what I found when browsing around some of my favorite sources of email inspiration. James Clear – 70,000 subscribers Clearly, email is a priority for him!
Help Scout – 60,000 subscribers Help Scout is one of the best at putting focus on an email signup at the home page of their blog. The image above is from the blog landing page. When you navigate deeper into the blog, the subscribe form moves to the sidebar. Also on the main page (and subsequent pages) is an ebook giveaway. The ebook is web-based so you can view the full thing in one click. At the end of the ebook is a call to action to sign up for email updates. Andrew Chen Andrew Chen was one of leaders in implementing the homepage-as-signup-form. His main page has an additional little trick. When you first land on there, the email form is highlighted automatically, and you can start typing your email address without needing to even click. You may also notice that Chen takes a different approach to social proof. He does not advertise the number of subscribers to his list but rather mentions recommendations from Wired magazine and 500 Startups. Michael Hyatt – 115,000 subscribers One of Michael Hyatt‘s secrets to building an incredible list is with giveaways—and probably a good amount of A/B testing. His calls-to-action for downloading a free ebook are really excellent. Social Media Examiner – 250,000 subscribers Much like Hubspot, Social Media Examiner is really good at giving things away. Their homepage has a huge call-to-action to sign up for a free ebook. When you’re scrolling down an individual blog post, you see another CTA—a popup offering instant access to a free video. With events and webinars and many different forms of media, Social Media Examiner has lots of opportunity to appeal to subscribers in many different ways. Which email growth method do you find yourself using? Which methods do you find yourself using to sign up on blogs? What have you used for your own site to attract email subscribers? I’d love to hear from you. WE wish to acknowledge Buffer Blog newsletter. Receive each new post delivered right to your inbox, plus their can’t-miss weekly email of the Internet’s best reads. Sign up here. Want to save an hour a day on your social media management? Buffer can help! Schedule your first post now. Email Marketing Tips This blog post was based on material Written by Kevan Lee - content crafter at Buffer and on many of my own blogs on the subject. I hope that a fresh point of view was helpful and would love to hear what you think. In the meantime, if you are looking for another Giveaway to help build your list and put some nice tidy sums of money in the bank at the same time try these giveaways:- Ask questions first before you join an affiliate program.
Do a little research about the choices of program that you intend to join. Get some answers because they will be the deciding point of what you will be achieving later on. THE COST Will it cost you anything to join? Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of charge. So why settle for those that charge you some dollars before joining. PAYMENT When do they issue the commission checks? Every program is different. Some issue their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice. Many affiliate programs are setting a minimum earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or exceed in order for their checks to be issued. HIT PER SALE RATIO What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This factor is extremely important because this will tell you how much traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the sale. HOW DOES THE MERCHANT KEEP TRACK OF MY SALES? How are referrals from an affiliate’s site tracked and for how long do they remain in the system? You need to be confident on the program enough to track those people you refer from your site. This is the only way that you can credit for a sale. The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. This is because some visitors do not buy initially but may want to return later to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is done some months from a certain day. MEASURING MY PERFORMANCE What are the kinds of affiliate stats available? Your choice of affiliate program should be capable of offering detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Constantly checking your individual stats is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are already generated from your site. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit is the one clicking on the banner or text links. DOES THE PROGRAM PAY FOR HITS, LEADS OR JUST SALES? Does the affiliate program also pay for the hits and impressions besides the commissions on sales? It is important that impressions and hits are also paid, as this will add to the earnings you get from the sales commission. This is especially important if the program you are in offers low sales to be able to hit ratio. WHO AM I DOING BUSINESS WITH? Who is the online retailer? Find out whom you are doing business with to know if it is really a solid company. Know the products they are selling and the average amount they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site. ONE OR TWO TIERS? Is the affiliate a one tier or two tier program? A single tier program pays you only for the business you yourself have generated. A two tier program pays you for the business, plus it also pays you a commission on the on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor in your program. Some two-tier programs are even paying small fees on each new affiliate you sponsor. More like a recruitment fee. HOW MUCH WILL I EARN? Lastly, what is the amount of commission paid? 5% - 20% is the commission paid by most programs. .01% - .05% is the amount paid for each hit. If you find a program that also pays for impressions, the amount paid is not much at all. As you can see from the figures, you will now understand why the average sales amount and hit to sale ratio is important. GO IN WITH EYES OPEN These are just some of the questions that needed answering first before you enter into an affiliate program. You should be familiar with the many important aspects that your chosen program should have before incorporating them into your website. Try to ask your affiliate program choices these questions. These can help you select the right program for your site from among the many available. Get started today and start making money online. ...and check our some of our favourite affiliate products ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IN THE MEANTIME ..... Are you looking for a quick start program that can put nice little amounts of money in your Paypal account almost immediately? Something that will give your "business empire" the Kick Start that it needs? Try these free e-books and see how you can have money going into your Paypal account today! ...let us know what you think! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I read an interesting article today on Juwai.com about the Chinese film industry. It seems that when they make a film using an overseas destination the wealthy Chinese middle class then show interest in the destination and foreign (Chinese) money flows in. Apparently Portugal and France have been recent beneficiaries. How does that relate to blogging or online business? Well, it doesn't really. But what it does tell me is that if I can't reach that wealthy Mandarin or Cantonese middle class then I'm not really serious about my business. So.... I go to my website builder (Weebly - brilliant people ) and, as usual they are two steps ahead. It turns out that they have apps to translate your site. So.. that's what I am going to do. Offer my website and blog in other languages. Watch this space. A Mandarin version of our site, coming soon. Can't believe I didn't think about it before this. Way to go. A zillion more Facebook and Twitter followers. Wow! HERE'S TO YOUR SUCCESS. John Gates www.ozzytraders.net Skype:john.gates By Juwai, 27 May 2016
China’s 668 million internet users1 spent $589.61 billion (¥3.877 trillion) online in 20152 alone.What’s more, that figure – a 33.3% increase from 20142 – is one that can only go up, considering China’s massive internet user population underwent a growth surge of 40 million new netizens last year.1 Now those stats and numbers are impressive enough to make any marketer’s mouth water. However, for those looking to stake a claim in what the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) describes as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ market4, knowing the figures just doesn’t cut it. If you’re planning to market to Chinese buyers online, understanding their expectations, consumption patterns, and cultural backgrounds before incorporating these insights to build your online presence makes all the difference. After all, capturing Chinese buyers online is a whole new ball game that would require an eminently different approach. Chinese websites vs. Western websitesThe first thing to understand is that Chinese websites and Western websites are polar opposites in many aspects. In fact, looking at Chinese e-commerce websites, one would think that most Chinese website designers suffer from horror vacui – a “fear of empty space” in Latin. The amount of information crammed into a single page could easily be described as cluttered, chaotic, and even claustrophobic to look at, much less navigate. It’s practically an information overload and a baffling disparity for non-Chinese netizens. This is even more apparent as minimalism is favoured in most advertisings and designs – especially for websites – in the West, and probably most parts of the world. After all, it’s commonly perceived that tasteful understatement appeals more to the taste of the affluent. Not so in China though, where apparently – or at least in terms of websites – less is not always more. Here, we take a look at Sina, one of China’s most popular sites that generated 82 million daily page views and 629 million unique visits in March 2016.5 In the Chinese version of Sina, there are more ads (highlighted in blue). Links dominate and pepper the site as well, while overflowing content is jam-packed into the site. Sina’s English site, however, is a stark contrast. The website looks comparatively cleaner, with more prominent emphasis on photo images. Content also looks less overloaded, with top stories and segments highlighted and better defined. 5 things to know about Chinese websites The side-by-side comparison above reveals the drastic differences to Western portals in terms of layout, content organisation, and functionality that reflect the nuances of the China market – but why? We break down China’s convoluted website user interface (UI) into 5 elements below: #1 Language differences Part of the cluttered feeling stems from the fact that the Chinese language doesn’t have italics or capital letters. This limits opportunities for adding the visual punch that you get with Latin alphabets, making it difficult to create the contrasts required to organise information with type alone. The complex typography of Chinese characters also adds to the chaos, as Latin characters looks comparitively simpler and cleaner. That said, logographic languages, such as Chinese, contain more meaning in fewer characters and less space, while English requires more space to communicate the same message. So, sites tailored to the China market can also take advantage of this difference between the Chinese and the English language. #2 Minimum time, maximum info dissemination Time is money, and this rings truer than ever in China. Thanks to the Great Firewall of China, most Chinese internet users are still plagued with slow loading times and limitations when it comes to international sites. Hence, displaying as much information as possible is vital to retain consumer interest in China, so what may seem to be clutter to you is in fact seen as “content-rich” by Chinese internet users. This is particularly crucial for retail portals, where every second counts when it comes to vying with competitors online to secure their next online customer. Chinese consumers prefer it too, as they want information as easily accessible as possible – this means providing more information or having information aggregated for easy consumption. A good example would be our Juwai.com Chinese Company Pages, where we aggregate all agent's listings together in one place. #3 Assurance and safety Chinese consumers require a high degree of assurance – likely fuelled by the amount of fake or low-quality products in China – before making a purchasing decision. So, while catchy headlines or pretty images are crucial in drawing interest and attention, but it won’t help seal the deal if there is insufficient information to convince Chinese buyers that they’re making a worthy purchase, especially as property is a major financial investment. This is doubly true when it comes to marketing international real estate online to Chinese buyers, most – if not all – who are unfamiliar with overseas markets in a foreign country, as well as its different language and systems, such as legal and banking. In fact, a recent Juwai survey revealed that one of the main reasons Chinese prefer investing in new projects over existing properties abroad is because they perceive newly-built properties to be safer and of higher-quality. To sum it up, this is why the general consensus in China's internet realm is to abide by “the more information, the better results” rule, which brings us back to why Chinese websites are usually information-saturated. Click here for 5 tips to gain trust from your Chinese buyer. #4 Online reflection of China Fact is, Chinese sites very much mirror China’s urban landscape. Walk around a major city in mainland China, and you may very well be overwhelmed by its bright advertisements, bustling boulevards, expansive choice of retail options, and Chinese shoppers swarming around you. Websites designers in China aim to recreate this on Chinese websites, ensuring that every spare inch of space gets used up to mimic a boisterous and frenetic bazaar atmosphere. Not only would it be familiar for Chinese online shoppers, it also helps drive the same buzz and excitement that comes with offline retail therapy experiences, yet with more convenience and discretion from the comfort of their own homes. #5 Digits sometimes play a role From domain names to emails to social media accounts, such as Tencent’s QQ – one of China’s largest instant messaging app – numerical digits are a nifty way to catch Chinese attention in China’s cyberspace. Beyond the fact that Chinese have a penchant for numerology, the numerical system is a universal standard long adopted – and adapted – in China. To Chinese, numbers are something familiar, as opposed to languages using foreign Latin alphabets. Not only are numbers easier for Chinese to remember, but numbers are also homophones or near homophones for certain Chinese words – turning them into quirky and creative wordplays when used alone or combined. The Chinese site URL for Alibaba – China's most prominent e-commerce goliath – is 1688.com, which is pronounced as “Yāo Liù Bā Bā” and is a pretty close match to “Alibaba”. So if you were thinking all those Chinese portals were simply using random numbers, think again. Boost your web appeal to ChineseConsidering 91% of China’s high net worth individuals (HNWIs) go online every day3 – 55% who procure investment information via the internet websites6 – reaching Chinese buyers online is vital. Yet, this is easier said than done when addressing a market that uses a different internet realm behind the Great Firewall of China. For example, while SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is just as important (if not more) in China as other countries, Baidu reigns as the dominating search engine in China, where it has more market share than Google has in the US. As such, SEO and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) rules in China can be very different. In fact, given the vast cultural and language differences between Western and Chinese websites, we're constantly working on Juwai.com's SEO appeal to Chinese consumers, and tailoring our site to meet the needs of this audience for our international real estate clients. That said, we hope what we've shared above has helped you better understand how to tailor your website to effectively capture Chinese buyer attention online, and in return aid you in marketing more successfully to Chinese. However, if you're seeking results but are not IT savvy, sign up now and let us help you on Juwai.com, which not only offers functionality catered to China's massive online population, but also tops Baidu as the leading Chinese-language global property portal with the highest page rank. Sources: 1. China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC); 2. China National Bureau of Statistics; 3. Hurun Report “The Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2015”; 4. BCG: Captivating the Newly Affluent in China and India; 5. Hypestat; 6. Hurun Report "2015 Annual Chinese HNWIs Asset Allocation White Paper" The Law of Reciprocity (Robert Cialdini) - "...people will be eager to help you when you have helped them first....." It can be hard to start out blogging and find fresh material. You want to blow your trumpet, but you may think that that is inappropriate. After all, we are often told that most people are interested in their favourite topic - themselves! Well, that may hold true for face to face conversations when you find that if you talk about YOU, the other persons' eyes glaze over, so you ask them questions and get them talking about themselves, their families, their interests and most often that person will walk away from that conversation thinking that you are a very interesting person. Reminds me of that old joke:...."that's enough about me - let's talk about you - what do you think of me?..." It seems, that when it comes to blogging and writing on the internet, the opposite holds true. You can very easily engage your audience by telling them things about you, about your life, your hopes, and dreams, even your pets! I read a great blog article, recently on Pro Blogging Success called Blog Content Ideas - 40 Simple Ways to Never Run Dry! Some of them were:
These are just a few of the selection but they all have in common "giving of yourself". People who choose to be on your subscriber list are there because there is something about you that they like or trust, so go with it, personalise your material, get down and deep and engage, ask what they want, ask about them, pose questions, and give great (well researched) answers and your audience will continue to grow. Give parts of yourself away by writing e-books, publishing short videos, set up polls and even forums once your site gets some traction. It's well worth it, so 'nuff said - more later! ...and here is another great source of ideas:- Jeff Bullas - 10 Secrets to Creating Engaging Content that will Attract Readers Let us have your feedback and ideas. What do you think? How do you rate this article? ARE YOU INTERESTED IN MAKING SOME NICE WORKING CAPITAL? NOT ENOUGH TO GET RICH ON, BUT ENOUGH TO START OUT ON YOUR WEALTH JOURNEY?.... Try these... Gates To Freedom Never Ending Holidays Tell us what you think... |
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